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Apr 2, 2009

Thursday April 2, 2009 Dan Naddor

Tough puzzle. I always struggle when the clues are themes. I am just not good at defining things. And in today's case, I simply don't know those P* names.

The only "Pauley" I know is Jane Pauley. Is Pauley Pavilion well-known nationally? I still can't believe "Paulie" is a movie title. The poster looks interesting though. Maybe you can feed me some orts on Pauly Shore & Polly Bergen. I have zero familarity with them.

Several great clues today:

36A: Closing letter at Oxford?: ZED. Our ZEE, the last alphabet letter. British pronounce it as ZED. I was thinking of DEE, the last letter of "Oxford".

11D: Company, so they say: TWO. Can THREE, then, be clued as "Crowd, so they say"?

51D: Turkish bigwigs: AGHAS. Can also be spelled as AGA. PASHA and BEY are also "Turkish bigwig".

52D: 1988 Olympics city: SEOUL. Literally "Capital" in Korean. I feel Hanja, Chinese characters used in Korea, is much much harder to recognize than Japanese Kanji. Love SEOUL food, used to eat a ton of kimchi.

56D: "Love the skin you are in" brand: OLAY. Most of my skincare products are OLAY.

82 comments:

Good morning, C.C. and gang - well, I had slowdowns all over the place with this one, but managed to get through with just perp help and some very lucky guesses.

I enjoyed the theme, and got them fairly quickly once I had part of the answers. I can't remember the last time i saw the mnemonic 'Roy G. Biv', but it'd been many, many years. Perps got me Kenosha, Mt. Apo, and Astoria. I thought the cleverest clues in this one were 'token taker' and 'closing letter at Oxford', but again, lots of fresh ones. I'm really happy with the change.

Today is National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day and National Reconciliation Day.

Today's Words of Wisdom: "In the midst of all the doubts that have been discussed for four thousand years in four thousand ways, the safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear of death." -- Writer Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire

Cyathura,I had the same feeling. The clues feel much livelier & younger in a certain way. And a warm welcome!

Martin,What's the name of your older son again? Ian grows so big now.

Wolfmom,You look very smart to me. You are oozing intelligence.

TJ,Re: "I'm English. It was explained to me that the phrase refers to the Union Jack flag that the Brit's fly, and at times was not considered very complimentary." What phrase? Cousin Jack? What happened yesterday? Your post looks so un-TJ.

C.C. the 'mnemonic' Roy G. Biv was created by some nimrod as a crutch for remembering all the colors basic colors - the colors in the rainbow - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. So what's a mnemonic Dennis?

My older son is Michael. Ian can stand up by himself but not walk so we still use the stroller.

Kind of food or group: ETHNIC. I forgot what's the difference between race and ETHNIC.

It's race and ETHNICity. The adjectives are racial and ETHNIC.

Anyway, race is presumably defined by physical characteristics whereas ethnicity is determined by culture. In a lot of Asian countries -such as India, the Philippines or Indonesia- the people are arguably mixed race but they each identify themselves as Indian, Filipino or Indonesian. Now, mind you, Indian, Filipino and Indonesian are also their nationality: sometimes people from different countries share the same ethnicity (say for example Chinese people from China and Singapore) and still other people might identify more with their home city than their home country, say for example a person from Cebu calling himself a Cebuano to distinguish himself from other Filipinos.

Basically people are whatever they say they are: a woman from Argentina could refer to herself as a "Latina", I suppose, even if her family was ethnically British or German. In North America, we complicate things a bit by using "hyphenated" categories such as "Italian American" or "African American", where "Italian" is an ethnicity, "African" is a PC way to refer to black people of African descent and "American" is a nationality.

I didn't do the puzzle today: I went to three different stores and couldn't find a paper.

Nice hard puzzle, though it seems people are slow to return after the worm threat. I sense we are on the path to much harder puzzles.

Sarasota has been the winter home of the Ringling Brothers Circus (now Barnum and Bailey, Ringling Brothers), a very conservative town, developed by the Ringling family. It has beautiful beaches, and now is home to DICK VITALE, the histrionic basketball announcer.

THE WHOLE TEN YARDS was a miserable sequel, to THE WHOLE NINE YARDS, which did feature a long look at Ms. PEET naked.

I found the JOBHOP MTAPO corner the hardest, and was not sure I was right until I got here.

Here in Florida, we have a section in the grocery store for ETHNIC foods.

CC & Dennis, I think another way to paraphrase Voltaire would be the old aphorism "let your conscience be your guide".

CC, re: poetics. Point taken. No more numbers game for me.

This was a good puzzle, did it without crutches. Like others, I've decided to forego Google and do as much as I can. Sometimes a break gives me a fresh take on a tricky clue. If that doesn't work I come here to cheat. No DF intended there. Windhover

Hayrake,If you're in England, knock up means to knock on someone's door and wake them up in the middle of the night.

Ringling Brothers Circus began near here in Baraboo WI in 1884.

I forewent google today too, but came here with half my grid naked. I have absolutely no sports or music knowledge, hence even MA-S and AM-- meant nothing to me. I'd never heard of any of the people except Pauly Shore and Dior, didn't have enough perps yet even to guess Kenosha, which of course I have heard of. Had parts missing from all the theme answers except Shore, and missed all the geographic answers for want of perp help to have enough to guess with.

What do NRC and AEC stand for anyway? CIE is short for compagnie in French.

I think the comments are slower today mainly because people with more patience than I have are still struggling with this one.

Windhover, it always amazes me how a brief break will give you 'fresh eyes' when looking at a puzzle. I assume you subconsciously keep on working the problem. There were lots of times back when I was in the corporate world that I'd go to sleep thinking about a seemingly impossible problem, and wake up with a possible solution. The brain is truly an superb organ.

Good Morning All, I'm awake a little earlier than usual. G.A.H. is visiting his mother for a few days and I'm in charge of letting the dog out in the morning.

Like Lemonade, the SW corner stumped me with MT APO and JOB HOP. The P in HOP was my last fill and I came here to verify.

I liked the theme and got all of them but PARROT MOVIE without perp help.

Paulie Shore is a so-so comedian from Los Angeles. He starred in some so-so comedy movies in the 1990's.

Polly Bergen is a very good actress who is probably most famous for appearing in the original version of Cape Fear. It was a very creepy stalker movie and nobody played a stalker better than Robert Mitchum.

I would rate this as an "SGR" puzzle (some Googling required). I had pavilion but had no idea as to kind or place, not being a Californian or b-ball fan. I also used an atlas to get the city names. I believe Sarasota was or is Spring training site for one of the teams.

Roy G. Biv was new to me and useful for the future. Google does not say that Dior created the sack dress, but Paul Poiret. I have a Skype webcam program which I confused with Skye. Ote was new to me also.

Altogether, about an hour was required to complete it, which I totally enjoyed.

Sunny and 86 projected today in Texas. May Spring find its way to you soon.

I once knew a bunch of Iranians who came here right after the Shah was deposed. I guess they were Royalists. One was a pilot.But anyway, they called each other Agha So-and-So, and told me that was the way to say Mr. in Iran.I've never seen AGHA clued that way, so I guess we Amis don't know a lot of Iranians.Have a good day, folks.

I had a lot of trouble with this puzzle. For me the theme was more like "Cast a Pall(Paul/Poll) Over". I got all the theme answers eventually, but thought BERGENOFFILM was sort of lame. PARROTMOVIE was a guess.

I completely forgot the (completely useless) mnemonic Roy G. Biv. Had DEE for ZED until I filled in LAD. Had KILL for SLAY. I didn't like the intersection of OMSK/KENOSHA, which I got after the slow reveal of the other perps. My favorite clue was 'staff member?' I didn't understand OTE or CIE until I got here.

Martin - great explanation of ETHNICity

I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday for lunch all through elementary school. What a great excuse to have one for lunch today.

C.C. and Linda - I paint silk for scarves and other wearable and usable art and I do oil paintings. You can see my work at my website.

Dennis - thanks for the definition. Mnemounic defines "Roy G. Biv" perfectly. I have always wondered what HOMES stands for too. Seems to be in every puzzle I ever did. Thanks.

@Kazie - my heritage is English but have never lived there. From what you said, now I'm glad. I happen to live in Florida.

jeannie - we haven't met; I'm a guy who drops in once in a while to see what funny stuff you guys are kicking around and happened to run across your requirements for a "tit for tat" thing. So, last night in our local news there was something that might work. I don't know anything about Bernard Madoff's thumbs but the U.S. Marshall's took custody of his huge luxurious yacht. Could that be the beginning of a wonderful 'tat' in exchange for a well rounded 'tit'?

CC; Lots of ink on my puzle today! Did get inker...probably because of it. "Idio" was a gimme...probably because I have quite a few...for instance...can`t stand to see cabinets, drawers that should be closed, open. Can you spell OCD?Alice`s Restaurant brought back memories. We car-travel a lot and one of our "jokes" is, "Do you want/need to `rest your rant?` "

About Sarasota: The Ringling mansion is something to see! It shows what rich people spent their money on before so many income taxes...ie; a private,brass barber chair. Right outside the leaded glass doors in the main hall is a building-long landing so that the yachts could pull alongside with ease. The newer art museum is beautifully landscaped and holds a treasure trove of many kinds of art. The extensive circus museum is fun, too. Well worth the admission...it will take all day.

The Naples News has had a few letters complaining about how easy the new puzzles are. One bragged that he did last Friday's in 4¾ minutes. Are any of us that good?I got only a small amount of today's. Didn't get any of the pauly, pollys. Missed others too. Whew! And Mel Rosen of Marco commented that the TMS has discontinued the old puzzles, so the fault is not the Naples News. Is Mel Rosen one of us? 'Fess up if so.

Sallie,I had as much trouble as you today, and tend to think the people complaining are being sarcastic, saying they're too easy so they'll change to something else that will turn out to be even easier!

Dennis,Thanks for AEC and NRC. I guess I would prefer regulation to proliferation, and wonder if they changed the name to avoid so much regulation.

Clear Ayes,I visited your site today again, to take a closer look at your morning snack, which looks good, BTW. Anyway, the song "I can see clearly now" brought back memories of the 1972 Labor win in the Oz national election. It was their theme song, a party that hadn't been in power for 18 years. I was also reminded of that when Obama won here--same euphoria.

Linda,We also like Arlo and Alice's Restaurant. In fact we've been to two of his concerts in the last two years in Madison, with some friends who go every time. No matter that his stories are the same each time, but still enjoyable.

Started off miserably with pencil and paper. Had many breaks due to the phone and still couldn't get anywhere. Then I went on-line and did it using the regular skill level. I didn't know BERGENOFFILM and had trouble with the perps there doing the written version. Mainly because I had KILL instead of SLAY. Even though I didn't do well, I did like this one for some reason.

Saminmiam: Thanks for the info about Mel Rosen. And thanks, Kazie, for the support.I like the clues "Deli hangings" for bolognas, and "Company,so they say" for two.But I do not like "Words before ghost" sees a. I think that's lame.

Another bit of info that I find interesting: the AEC was in the U.S., but the NRC is in Vienna. My first husband's doctoral thesis was partially paid for by the AEC, and then years later we lived in Vienna for a year. That's how I know.

According to my not-yet-teen granddaughter, the "idols de jour" are the Jonas Brothers. Hey Dude, 61 million hits on YouTube can't be wrong....can they? Apparently, Nick Jonas dated Miley Cyrus for a while.

Having lived in SO CAL a most of my life, I am familiar with UCLA's Pauley Pavillion. In addition to some basketball games, my husband and I attended a couple of the gymnastic events that were held there during the 1984 Olympics.

It was wonderful to have the Olympics in "our back yard". The basketball games were at The Forum. We attended the first basketball game between USA and China. As I recall it was the first time China had appeared in the summer Olympics. Team China wasn't particularly good, but the enthusiasm of the spectators was terrific.

Linda, Ditto on the museum and Cà d'Zan, the Ringling mansion in Sarasota. It is a very impressive place. Although Cà d'Zan is smaller, the only place I could compare the opulence would be Hearst Castle in San Luis Obispo, CA. Ridiculously rich is still rich no matter what the size of the house.

Kazie, I posted the pastel drawing to get some feedback from Wolfmom. She was very kind and encouraging. I put the title, "Thanks, Grandma" on it, but you're right, it would make a nice morning snack.

My blog name and the song were chosen after I had cataract surgery a couple of years ago. The punny "Ayes" is to make sure that I speak up and express opinions on things that are important to me.

This puzzle was a bit difficult but I managed to get it. CC, I too thought of Jane Pauley for 20A. I couldn't figured out how to "pencil her in". For 53A printing gizmo I had "laser" printer. For 39D I had for Subway alternative: KFC as in Kentucky Fried Chicken rather than cab. As for a teen idol for today, yes I would agree with Jonas Brothers. My idols since 7th grade have been the Moody Blues. LOVE them! They're in their 60's and still hot in my book. Jonas Bros can't hold a candle. Dennis, yes it is the law of eminent doman that is causing us to lose the house. We are still in negotiations. I've been there almost 20 years and like J.D. I have an elderly cat. She is 17 and I hope she will be okay. She likes to go outside and I worry about a move making her confused. I was glad that she took me having babies well (after 40). They are 1 and 3. My other cat is 13. C.C. as a Radio Announcer I'm a DJ on the radio.I work the midday shift. Clear Ayes: I love that movies "Umbrellas Of Cherbourg" too. Looking for some great thunderstorms here today. I love weather!

CA, I am glad you are the one who mentioned the Jonas Brothers, who, like Miley Cyrus are a product of the Disney machine that makes stars out of minimally talented people. If you think back to the heartthrobs of our the past, from Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, to the Beatles, it is embarrassing that we now have the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus.

My memory of Arlo Guthrie is not as pleasant as yours KZ; he performed in the evening the first day of the WOODSTOCK festival in 1969, (I still have my tickets, as they crowd was so large, they just pushed down the fence that had been set up so they could collect tickets, and we all just arrived) and while we sat in the rain and the mud, he came on and proceeded to tell everyone, he had no intention of playing "Alice's Restaurant" so we could keep our whining down. It was not a pleasant time, and his set was short and received no response except cat calls.

If you like the glitter tha money can buy, you should travel to Newport Rhode Island and otur the mansions, especially the Vanderbilt Mansion.

JOBHOP is bogus, and even though I guessed HOP because what else could it be, I do not think it is a legitimate term.

I have always been amazed at how even a few minute break can revitalize your mind, and when you return to a puzzle, answers fly into your brain. It is why I try not to Google. I prefer to guess letters and then come here and see if I was correct.

Lemonade714,Sorry to hear that Arlo was so obnoxious in his youth--my experience of him has only been recent, maybe maturity brings more sensibility in the stars. Even now though, he only does Alice every ten years on its anniversary years.

Even if I had a "semester" at the "UCLA pavillion" I "seesa" "ten to one" chance of finishing this "inker" in my allotted lunch hour unassisted so I came here instead. I am still baffled by 36A zed; Don't the british and americans speak the same language? Why would Zee be Zed?

@Clearayes regarging Cape Fear. I loved that movie and have seen both the old and newer versions and I must say Robert DeNiro seemed a lot creepier to me.

@Elissa, wow are you a smart, talented lady. Makes me feel kind of insignificant. Not only are your silk pieces beautiful, but I also read the first chapter of "Lawyer, liar, pants on fire." I am going to have to buy the book now. Maybe a scarf too :)

@DJ Girl, I too am a huge Moody Blues fan. I saw them in concert at the Red Rock amptitheatre with a full orchestra in CO and it is probably one of the most memorable concerts I have ever attended.

@Lemonade, are you sure you remember Arlo Guthries performance being you were actually at Woodstock?

@Hayrake, No, 4" thumbs is the first priority. Also i think you were talking about the seizure of Madoff's yacht. I wouldn't even show a hint of cleavage to that bum!

I struggled a little more with this puzzle today, but I still solved it reasonably quickly without outside assistance. I did verify a few things afterward though.

So far I miss the old Tribune puzzles. For me they had more charm. I particularly miss the Thursday quotation themed and the Saturday puzzles with longer words. But I'm willing to give the new LA puzzles a shot. Maybe I'll grow to like them more over time.

I did want to say I preferred the old stile "steps over a fence" cluing better than the new "token taker". At least the old clue appeared as one definition of "stile" in Websters. The new one does not. "Stile" of course is also a term as much associated with door and window components as it is with fences. The stile in the new cluing is simply a shortened form of the word "turnstile". In that sense, it's just the barrier one passes through at some places that collect tokens. It's not the token taker device itself. To me the new clue is ok in a loose crossword puzzle kind of logic way, but it's not as technically precise as the old style "stile" cluing.

Lemonade714, Woodstock....I was on the left coast at the time, was married, had a child and a job. Even though I couldn't be there, I was entralled at what happened during that weekend. My eventual brother-in-law was there. Remember the skinny English kid who was doing some free roadie work for a couple of the bands? That was him. ;o) Only kidding, I know there were a half million people there. Great music.

I agree about today's manufactured music not being as good as our music. Of course, Fabian was the exception that proved the rule.

Jeannie, my husband would agree with you about DeNiro's performance. Maybe I was just more creeped out by Mitchum because I kind of knew what to expect the second time around. Mitchum's "most totally creepiest" part was in Night Of The Hunter with Lillian Gish and Shelley Winters.

Zed is clearer over the phone than zee (confused with vee, cee often) and it's what I grew up with. Took me a coon's age (or donkey ages in my lingo) to change when I came here. Zedd is directly descended from the German, and thence probably, Anglo-Saxon, word Zett. So how did it become Zee?

First off...C.C. Milliethanks for the very lovely compliment...my face is 3 shades of red. :o)

Well, today was another Oh, Oh, I don't think this puzzle is going happen...but I kept dancing around the grid and slowly things started to fill in...the colors of the rainbow mnemonic defeated me until I only had the V to fill in and it was still a head scratcher. Perhaps if it was all in CAPS it would have made more sense, like HOMES. I mean, why do some colors get caps and others not??? The P in APO was the very last thing to go. I managed the theme answers except for UCLA PAVILION as I also wanted Jane Pauley and could not think of anything that started with UC( I came here and peeked at that one). I put in KENOSHA only because it was the only city I could think of that started with a K....round and round, but no "G"ing...yet

CA...though we would miss your lovely face, I would encourage you to keep putting your art here...you really are quite talented. :0) Keep it going!We seem to have quite a few very talented people on this blog.

Even though I put BOLOGNAS I would never buy any from a Deli that had them hanging up rather than in a refrigerated case, unless the ambient temperature of the store was in the low 40's. Bolognas, unlike salami/salumis have not been air-dried and are therefore a "fresh" product...just EW...bad clue.

Pauly Shore, a really mediocre comedian lucked out because his dad, Sam Shore opened and ran that famous L.A, comedy club called "The Comedy Store"...wouldn't have probably done well if not for that. IMHO

Jeannie: There are definitely differences between British English and American English and some of our words and phrases will produce either a laugh or appalled look. I think that either Carol or Linda had a good one a while back...over here we say we SOD a lawn...huge guffaws over the pond where you usually hear it as "SOD OFF"(replace SOD with that lovely Anglo-Saxon 4 letter word starting with F...see what I mean, different)

And I would say that if Lemonade can actually remember Woodstock then the chances are good that he can remember who he heard and saw.

Dennis...like your WoW for today and pretty much every day is peanut butter day for my husband...leave off the jelly and that is his favorite sandwich.

Horrible day for me. Opened today's Virginian Pilot only to discover they changed the entertainment section entirely and nothing was where it should have been! Had to search for the puzzle. So immediately I started off lost and confused and then tried this puzzle which sent me into orbit - I got about 20% done before I had to leave for a hairdresser appointment. Returned home to find my mind hadn't cleared much (I agree that a break usually helps me but not today) but I do have a great hair style so the day turned out fine. I'm sure if I had had more time I could have savored this puzzle but even with g-help I wound up turning to cc's answers to finish. Get a D on this baby - just never got sufficient traction. As Scarlett said, tomorrow's another day.

Kept wanting Paulie Walnuts somewhere - come on "Parrot Movie"? And while the Beatles were teen idols in my day, I agree that there are lots better clues - do today's teens even know who the Beatles were? Did enjoy Roy G. Biv - I've never heard of that before and won't miss it again.

Just a reminder to all you Penn State fans, friends and followers, tonite's the nite - so route for the guys to take the NIT!! I figure winning the NIT is lots better than losing in the first round of the NCAA.

Jeannie: Thanks for the complement. With your imaginative mind you are definitely can't feel insignificant. I'm always happy to sell a book and a scarf. If you get the book directly from me (with or without a scarf) I'll autograph it if you'd like.

My most memorable concert was Iron Butterfly circa 1970 where they played a 17 minute version of Ina Goda Davida, which was undoubtedly enhanced by the contact high I was under. Moody Blues Knights in White Satin is a piece of music which still has a profound impact as a listening experience.

Clear Ayes - every era had it's manufactured music. We had The Monkees (I know you can just hear it - "Hey, hey, we're the Monkees, and people say we monkey around. But we're too busy singing to put anybody down.") And I saw this morning there is a new group of New Kids on the Block.

ALL GRAVY NO GRIEF - No, I wasn't a SEAL. I was a JAG officer. On the book cover, the uniform is my husband's (he wasn't a SEAL either). My highest rank was LCDR. The SEAL insignia is a miniature and the JAG insignia is my uniform collar device.

If I have ever heard of Polly BERGEN before, it was just in passing. The same goes for Pauley PAVILION. I am unfamiliar with the actor and I do not follow college sports. I had heard of Pauly SHORE, he was an early VJ on MTV. He had a cute personality. I had also heard of the movie Paulie. I have never seen it, though. Surprised?

I believe that Canadians also use 'ZED'.

"Can THREE, then, be clued as "Crowd, so they say"?"Sure.

I believe that TEEN IDOLs refers to the fact that they are teens who are idols just as much as the fact that they are idolized by teens. Many teens might idolize Obama, I do not think that makes him a teen idol.Miley Cyrus qualifies as a teen idol. However, historically, the term has been applied primarily to boys. Other than the Jonas Brothers, Zac Efron is a current example. He is prettier than any of the Jonas Brothers.

The people who fined Mark Cuban are un-American. Censorship is not cool.

I got ASTORIA from the perps even though I might have been there once as a child. If I had kids, I would take them to Oregon to stay at the Treesort.

C.C.,Did you put SHAG for SLAY?"I've never heard of the mnemonic Roy G. Biv."Don't feel bad, neither had I. I'd be surprised if our resident painters didn't know that one, though.The history lover in me prefers Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain.

Sallie,This is the NRC that used to be the AEC. It's headquarters are in Rockville, Maryland. Now you have me curious about which NRC is in Vienna.

On this day last year I was boarding a liveaboard dive vessel that too us up the Sanghe Islands of North Sulawesi, Indonesia. At our furthest point north, Pulau Sangihe, we were approximately 222 miles due south of MT APO.

Jeannie."I am still baffled by 36A zed; Don't the british and americans speak the same language? Why would Zee be Zed?"The British have been speaking English several centuries longer than the Americans, and the Americans have been influenced by the influx of several other languages. No language is rigidly inflexible. Just think of the variant dialects between New England, Minnesota, and South Carolina. All American English, but with distinct differences. Calef.

just now got to the puzzle, ouch. i much prefer theme answers to theme clues .. although it was clever. mostly the same unknowns as others - but ROY G BIV was a gimme (learned in 6th grade with prisms, always stuck). love arlo. gonna pretend i didn't read lemonade's story ... la la la la.

@PMT: you are correct about canadians and 'zed,' i lived in canada for a bit and still say it sometimes.

SaminMiam,Interesting AGHA information. I thought Irani language is very different than Turkish. Or do they all speak Arabic there? Does SaminMiam mean Sam in Miami? How long have you been solving Xword?

Elissa,Holy hotwick lava bomb! You are so talented.

Sallie,Can you believe there is not even one complaining letter printed on our Star Tribune? I agree with PromiseMe, NRC is a US agency, it's based here in the States.

Anonymous @1:28pm,Maybe we will see a Alan P. Olschwang quip puzzle in LA Times some day. Every themeless Saturday has longer words, LA Times is no exception. And you won't see so many annoying affixes like ER, RE, ED & EST.

I was going to award myself the "Cheater of the Day" award, but then I saw that Kazie and Sallie crawled to the blog for help also. Between things I didn't know(aghas,amaj...), things I forgot(Omsk, gesso), the 2 worders( sees a & ALL the theme answers), abbreviations(NRC,SLRS), there was not much to work with to fill it in. Sigh. Even erasing didn't help; had dee for zed, bus for cab, sausages for bologna, coke for cola. Felt like it was my 1st time. LOL! I did like the clue: staff member.My mind is till reeling over Roy G. Biv!!! It would not have been a good day to climb Mt. Apo!

Clear Ayes, Cape Fear is the scariest movie that I have ever seen! It was too real, and yes, creepy.

Just a thought on the mnemonics...In the case of the rainbow...the colors are just a natural progression:

3 Primary Colors: Red Yellow Blue

3 Secondary Colors: Orange Green Purple...

Taken in order:

RedOrange(Red and Yellow)YellowGreen(Yellow and Blue)BluePurple(Blue and Red)

Together these form a "Color Wheel"...with tertiary colors in between and then there are shades and tints.

Remember that where Primary colors overlap, you get secondary colors.When they are next to each other they are analagous, when directly across...complimentary)

If you working with with light, where all the colors overlap you get White, essentially all the colors of light.( Yes, I know the sky is blue...another issue)

If you are working with pigment, where all the colors overlap you essentially get black...it absorbs all light and reflects nothing back...which is one of the reasons that Impressionists removed the solid pigment black from their palettes as they were "Painters of Light"

And so verily, this endeth your art lesson for today...

This is why I don't need to know the mnemonic Roy G Biv...this info has been hotwired into my brain for over 50 years

C.C.,I am happy to learn I made you laugh. Knowing that XW puzzles expose you to a lot of popular culture and slang, as soon as I read your comment regarding 'knock up', I grok'ed what was on your mind.

Al,The first musical instrument I learned to play was the guitar, so I am well familiar with the names of the strings. Never-the-less, I had never heard of the 'Drunken Easter Bunny' mnemonic. Thanks for that:)

Wolfmom,Thank you for the information on colors. While I actually already knew that stuff, I had never heard of the odd 'Roy G. Biv' mnemonic.

Crockett1947,I have banged my f@#^%$! head against the wall on that one, too. It is nothing more than an exercise in self-flagellation, IMNSHO. It is good thing I am a masochist. I will keep at it ;)

PMT, I defer to your milliadonis expertise on Zac Efron. Sadly for me, they all look just one step removed from babies. Want some cookies and milk, boys?

Melissa bee, You probably remember that not only is the letter ZED, but the black striped equine is pronounced zed bra. That's the case in both Canada and England and probably Australia too (Kazie?).

There are lots of differences in both pronunciation and spelling within Amer-speak and Brit-speak. I lived in Canada from seventh through 11th grade, so a lot of my spelling was learned in Canada. I still get confused sometimes with the differences in spelling. Then there's the "aluminum" and "aluminium" controversy (KON-truh-vur-see) or is it controversy (kon-TRUH-vur-see

Wow, I feel like a real idiot bringing up my confusion on the Zed clue. Sorry to say, I have never studied any other foreign language other than to try to fit into MN after living in MI. Now I KNNOOOWWWW hot dish, ice houses, and ottoman. In MI they were casseroles, shanties, and hassocks! don't ya know. Really, I'm not as dumb as I look.

"Well Toto, we're not in Chicago anymore." It was good to see a nice West Coast clue like 27A. Astoria should have been a gimme for all of us Oregonians.

I regularly use Roy G. Biv in teaching the order of the rainbow colors to my preschoolers. This mnemonic device insures that the colors are always presented in the same order, which is very important if you happen to be three or four years old.

My favorite concert memory from the dark ages of Rock and Roll was when the Rolling Stones came to San Jose,Ca. We saw them in a very small auditorium (San Jose Civic Auditorium). I can still see the girls trying to scale the back walls to get a peek into the dressing rooms. This was about 1966. Of course, the police were there to carry out all of the screaming, fainting fans(girls). I missed seeing the Beatles in San Francisco, because at 16, my Dad said I was too young to go that far unchaperoned. Little did he know that this would have been a feather in my cap for the rest of my life. Oh well!! My friends brought back pictures that they took(black and white), which I still have.

I think I'm getting used to this style of puzzle. After much head scratching, I managed to fill in all but the M from Mt. Apo, before coming here. It's good to hone the ole synapses. Adios Amigos

SaminMiam,CC saidInteresting AGHA information. I thought Irani language is very different than Turkish. Or do they all speak Arabic there? Does SaminMiam mean Sam in Miami? How long have you been solving Xword?

CC, Iranians speak Parsi (or Farsi) and they are not Arabs. Just ask them! It bothers them to be classified as Arabs. They are the old Persian Empire.Sure, Sam lives in Miami. And I've been solving crosswords since before you were born, little girl. :-) Thanks for asking.

C.C. According to the Ringling site, "Cà d’Zan, means “House of John” in Venetian dialect". I guess that is a pretentious way of saying Italian. In the early 20th century, it was very important to rich Americans to show how cultured they were. They often displayed their wealth by building self-indulgent ornate mansions modeled after the most palatial castles and palaces of Europe. Lemonade714 mentioned the homes of Newport, Rhode Island as examples. Hearst dismissively called his castle "The Ranch" because he raised cattle there. But it was also an ostentatious 60,000 square foot display of super wealth. BTW, I misspoke earlier. The castle is located about 40 miles from San Luis Obispo in San Simeon CA. It really is a "don't miss" for anyone taking a California vacation.

Jeannie, Ice cold milk and chocolate chunk cookies with pecans headed you way! Have all you want. I promise they aren't fattening.

Crockett, I finally managed to get through that one; one of the hardest I've ever done. If you can't get it, I'll be happy to a)give you the answers you need, or b)email you a scan of the completed puzzle.

SaminMiam, what part of Miami? Coming down your way in a couple weeks.

Warren, you're exactly right about 'inkers'.

Clear Ayes, one of my closest friends is from Manitoba; they certainly do have a unique way of pronouncing words. I'm always ragging him about words like 'organ-eye-zation.

Clearayes, I was very moved to read why you chose your moniker. My Mom went through the same surgery as you and was a pirate for awhile. She looked cute the second day as she played the part. Even going AAARRRGGGHHH, and dressing in a fitting puffy shirt gown kind of thingy. I miss my Mom as she is 600+ miles away. She was a home-ec teacher that taught me to sew, darn, cook and can veges/fruit. I know for a fact I don't see her enough. She is also where I get my sense of humor.

c.c.,Volk just means people in German, and Wagen is car, or any vehicle for that matter. Hitler went to Ferdinand Porsche and asked him to design a car that would be affordable to all the people, and the result was the Volkswagen, literally the people's car.

Ltd. in France is A.R.L., but the dictionary doesn't explain what it stands for, and apparently Inc. doesn't have an equivalent.

Clear Ayes,I pronounce it zebra (short "e" like in egg) but no "d" sound in the middle. One fascinating spelling difference that site omits is the distinction made between the verb "practise" and the noun "practice". I always remembered them alphabeticaly Noun before verb, "c" before "s". I can identify with your dillemma over the different spellings too--I still get confused at times.

That color mnemonic seems superfluous--I find it easier to remember the colors progressing naturally from red through similar related shades to violet at the other end. I suppose if one were color blind it might help.

To all of you doubters, I remember Woodstock very well, the good and the bad of it. I remember Richie Havens beginning the show, I remember a classmate from college climbing one of the towers and urinating on the crowd. I remember the announcements for bad green acid. I remember the music, and the shock of people actually selling water! There really were fewer drugs than everbody thinks, just some pot and soem LSD. It was an amazing experience.

I met Richie Havens in Gainesville about 6 years later at a the Great Southern Music Hall, where he took out his teeth and played for hours, smoking some hash the whole night.

Sarasota; nobody agrees where the name comes from, the earliest use of the name was Zarazote on a map from 1763. You all from Minnesota, know that sota is a Sioux word for "in a mist, or fog." Are the words related, there were no Sioux in Florida.

Thank you Promisemethis for the link last night. I had forgotten that one and it brought me back to being a teenager floating around Lake MI in a little sunfish sailboat. Lemonade, thanks for my lead in to the coveted number. Thank you Clearayes, the cookies were great (in my mind anyway). My hips thank you as I really didn't consume them. But, boy would I want to!

I am still blown away Elissa by your scarves. I can't decide between the Rainbow one or the fire one. I like a lot of color.

Dennis, ever heard about the gal that had a special relationship with her dog using peanut butter and jelly? He was able to do tricks you just wouldn't believe.

C.C. by granting me no. 69 it takes great restraint throughout the day to really make my posts (kinda) count. I should have learned that lesson....but alas, Lemonade's 100.

Wolfmom: Every once in a while, I really miss teaching...reading your art lesson was one of them. When I taught all that, I`d make home made play dough and let them actually mix the primary colors to get the secondary ones. Then, I`d have them mix all the colors (prim and sec.) and we`d get a color which led to a lesson on the digestive tract (a tertiary color :)I would use a prism to "bend" a ray of light to prove that all the colors were in said beam.When they closed and covered their eyes, they saw "black" thus proving that light held all the colors and dark was the absence of color. For the culmination, we made and filled in the colors for a color wheel and rainbows which we mounted on black backgrounds which made the colors "pop". When it was each one`s "turn" to paint...( only one easel) most of them did some more color mixing. I have one graphic designer and two budding artists for former students. I`d like to think I sowed the seeds. The "always the same orderly array of colors" led to some pre-physics concepts and the rainbow led to lessons on the weather and how a sun beam, bent by the water vapor in a cloud, produced it. Fun times and "thanks for the memories."

@clearayes I would second your recommendation on the Hearst Castle. It is quite a place.

I would think that a Venetian would be insulted that the local dialect would be considered "Italian." From my experience and reading, the local dialects in Italy are loosely related to official "Italian," but the native population much prefers to converse in dialects with their countrymen.

@dennis b, if you would.

@jeannie I hope you have many opportunities to cherish your Mom.Congrats on snaring "your" number once again.

For all you LPGA fans, ANZ (the leading Australian and New Zealand Bank) sponsors a tournament ANZ Ladies Masters that Laura Davies has won a few times. The name is said "A N Zed." It was nice to see many of the young American golfers do well today in the first round of the Kraft Nabisco, the first major on any tour. LPGA. Sadly, Laura Diaz was not among the good rounds. This tournament was hosted for years by DINAH SHORE a frequent answer in the puzzle world. "See the USA, in your Chevrolet..."

PromiseMeThis: My info is from being in Vienna in '69-'70, at which time some of my husband's colleagues were at an NRC in Vienna. Marc was no longer directly involved in that org. His research then was in salt (hence Vienna). I never knew much about any of it, being an English teacher not a geologist.

I tried once to solve the new puzzle online but the computer was too slow and Michael wanted to use the computer so that was that.

Was Michael born in Taiwan?

No, both of my sons were born in the Philippines.

How old is he?

Eleven.

Why is he schooled in the Philippines?

He was here in Taiwan for one year when he was seven and we put him into grade one but he couldn't understand what the teachers were saying and he said he wanted to go back to the Philippines to go to school.

Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena on the campus of UCLA. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams. The men's and women's volleyball and women's gymnastics teams also play here. The building was dedicated in 1965 and named for University of California Regent Edwin W. Pauley, who had matched the alumni contributions. Pauley donated almost one fifth of the more than $5,000,000 spent in building the arena. from Wikipedia.

If you want more info on this somewhat shady character, read his Wikipedia entry.

"I remember Woodstock very well"When I read that I was beginning to think you had no fun at all."There really were fewer drugs than everybody thinks"When I read that, I realized I was right. Why didn't they share with you?

" ... the name was Zarazote on a map from 1763. You all from Minnesota, know that sota is a Sioux word for "in a mist, or fog." Are the words related, there were no Sioux in Florida."That's a fascinating question, Lemonade.

Jeannie,Which link? I gave you three. I am pretty sure you don't mean the STYX song. Was it the Christopher Cross song or the Little River Band song that you had forgotten?Regarding your question to Dennis: As kinky as I might be, my interests are confined to my species. Inter-species stuff is a bit too out there, even for me(... shudders ...)!Speaking of Dennis ...

Dennis,I am a week behind on my team's games thanks to the wonders of TIVO, but I just caught a clip of your friend from Manitoba mixing it up back in the day. I am jealous of your friendship with him. You must get to hear a lot of great stories.

Hello C.C. & all,"Your post is so not TJ", it's because I've just now realized that I fell into a "pet-peeve" trap. I'm not English, I'm American, of English descent, therefore American-English. I was born in America. You, on the other hand were born in China, and justifies Chinese-American, but an Irishman, Italian, Australian, Mexican, African, Muslim, etc. born in the US, in my opinion, should be American-Irishman, American-Italian, American-Australian, American-Mexican, American-African, and American-Muslim, IMHO. As I said, a pet peeve, and a barrier to the melting-pot of this nation's unity.

As to linguistics, imagine an elementary student who loved the novels of C.S. Forester (Hornblower), and Dudley Pope (Ramage) who kept getting incorrect marks for 'honour, and colour' in his spelling tests, and having to wrap his mind around different spellings by two different languages that were both "English"!

When I lived in FL, whenever I went home to MN on vacation, all my MN friends would give me grief (on more than one thing) about, "have a soda"... then in FL, my pals would say, "you just got back from Mini-SO-tah!" Wanna have a pop? (I can relate jeannie, cassarole vs. hotdish!)

We all know that Dennis says things differently from Kazie, or Argyle, or LmndDCCXIV, or Lois, but this puzzle brings us all together, and that is a good thing. Thank you C.C.

@tj I read the late night posts and also check on the previous day before getting on with getting on.

I heartily agree that this hyphenated ethnic identification mania is a crock of c*ap. One can certainly be of a particular heritage and cling to that identity as long as they so desire, but once you're here in the good old ISA, you're an American, by gum! The pendulum swings like a pendulum do, and mayhaps things will change (for the better, IMO).